There are several styles of martial arts in which punching and striking techniques are prevalent. Students who practice these forms of martial arts must repeatedly punch and strike targets to acquire the necessary accuracy and skills to excel at martial arts.
Various tools exists for training martial arts students. For instance, a focus mitt may be worn by an instructor and provide a relatively safe, large padded surface for the student to punch and kick without requiring precise accuracy. See also U.S. Pat. No. 8,029,422 to Strong et al. which discloses a suspended blanket used as a kicking target in martial arts and U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,062 to Hoffman which discloses a hanging rigid sheet used as a target in Karate.
Re-breakable boards provide a target with resistance for students to practice punching and striking. A benefit of re-breakable boards is that they are reusable and therefore cost-effective. However, if a student strikes a re-breakable board inaccurately, the blow could result in injury to the student. In addition, time is involved to re-assemble the boards for the next student. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,336 to Perry, a practice “breakable” karate board and U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,803 to Smith, a pair of clamps to hold a martial arts target board in place and U.S. Pat. No. 7,942,791 to Yocum, spring loaded, connected boards which are used for a target in martial arts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,379 to Williams discloses a vertically oriented cylindrical practice bag with horizontal cylindrical openings extending through the bag. Fake arms and legs are extended through the horizontal cylindrical openings to simulate an opponent's arms and legs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,990 to Dosch discloses a device for rigidly holding paper which is used as a kick or hand target. However, the threaded rods and frame of the holder present a safety issue should the martial arts participant miss the intended target.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,353 to Dale discloses another version of the Dosch invention. The Dale invention holds a paper target to be kicked between two parallel support bars. Again, safety may be a concern.
Targets are also used in other fields. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 8,556,268 to Su discloses a multi-layer target with a backboard having an opening, a target paper over the opening and a solid disk placed in front of the paper target. When the disk is struck by a bullet, the disk knocks the paper target through the opening in the backboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,375 to West, Jr. discloses a shooting target that includes layers with reflective and light capturing material to enhance target sighting.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,133 to France discloses a foldable target holder for target shooting. A target board has an opening over which a target is placed so that bullets pass through the opening.
There remains a need for an easy to use, safe, re-usable and cost effective target for use in martial arts training classes. The target must withstand striking, while at the same time embody the necessary flexibility should a student miss the target while punching and striking, and require little reassembly.